押隈

An oshiguma is made when, after a performance, an actor presses his kumadori makeup onto silk or fine paper, leaving a direct imprint of the face. No two are alike—each carries that day's makeup, sweat, and the heat of the stage.

Treasured oshiguma were mounted as hanging scrolls or framed for display. Those of celebrated actors outlive their era: an oshiguma left in 1887 by Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, the famed actor of the Meiji period, is still carefully preserved as a cultural treasure today. In a single piece of cloth, the heat of a stage more than a century past remains sealed intact.

Long treasured as gifts and mementos, oshiguma are records of a body that lived a role on a particular day. Danjūrō XIII has shown oshiguma in his art exhibitions, where they bridge the stage and the gallery.